Santorum hits health reform

How much does Rick Santorum hate President Barack Obama’s health care law? So much that he even opposes the parts a lot of Republicans like.

The Republican presidential candidate, talking health care across the street from Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic Monday morning, blasted parts of the Affordable Care Act that poll well even among Republican voters — like guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and making health insurers cover preventive care.

Story Continued Below

Santorum, who has touted free market health principles like health savings accounts as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, defended insurance industry practices the law eliminates, like setting premiums based on people’s health status.

Santorum’s point: Every time you add consumer protections — even the popular stuff — you make the health insurance more expensive.

In a speech that tied Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health plan to the federal health care reform law, Santorum also blasted Massachusetts and the federal law for eliminating lifetime and annual caps on health insurance coverage, something that will effectively end bare-bones insurance plans known as “mini-meds.” While consumer advocates have questioned the value of these plans, Santorum said doing away with them will boost insurance costs.

Santorum argued that consumers should take responsibility for preventive benefits, while the federal health care reform law eliminates cost-sharing for some. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll found that 53 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Independents favored the health care reform provision. However, Santorum made the point that auto insurance doesn’t cover basic car maintenance.

“How much more would you pay for your [car] insurance” if it covered oil changes and new tires, Santorum asked.

“If you have an accident, that’s what auto insurance is for,” he continued. “You have an accident and you have a cost you may not be able to pay.”

Santorum also blasted the health care reform law’s “guaranteed issue” provision, which bans health insurance companies from denying coverage to people with health problems. Santorum said the law’s penalty for not purchasing insurance isn’t strong enough to encourage young adults to buy it, meaning they’ll wait until they’re sick to actually seek coverage.

“That’s something that everybody thinks is so popular,” he said. “But it also leads to enormous cost.”

Indeed, it is popular. Kaiser found 57 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of Independents favor guaranteed issue.

Santorum also criticized health insurance exchanges, a concept that Republicans aren’t totally against. Kaiser found last year that 62 percent of Republicans had very favorable or somewhat favorable views on marketplaces “where small businesses and people who don’t get coverage through their employees can shop for insurance and compare prices and benefits.” But Santorum criticized exchange as the vehicle for implementing the health care reform law.

“This is the way they enforce their mandates, is through the exchanges,” Santorum said.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:17 p.m. on February 6, 2012.